John & 1,2,3 John | Lecture 4 : BC301-John-20260821

Okay, good morning those of you who are online and good morning to all of you who are here. Um, yes, that was a lively good morning. Uh, so we will have some someone in our class opening for us with a word of prayer today. After that we will get into our class. >> Thank you Lord. Thank you father. Thank you for giving this wonderful time father god. Lord as we are going to meditate on the chapters father god. Lord reveal the truth to all of us father god. Lord you speak to us father god. Also father god give more wisdom to all of us to understand everything. Father god. Thank you lord. Thank you Jesus. Also father god help us to help us to understand. Father god. Thank you lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. Amen. Thank you. So, uh we have been looking at the first chapter of the gospel of John. Uh we finished looking at the prologue, the introduction which was written in the form of a hymn which was our first 18 verses. Then verse 19 onwards we have started looking at Jesus public ministry. So we we we we mentioned last time that the remaining portion of chapter 1 will be an introduction being given by John the Baptist. This is how he introduces Jesus to the people. So uh those are the verses that we have been looking at. Uh we looked from 19 up to verse 23. So today we we'll be covering verse 24 onwards. We saw last time that John the Baptist was very clear about his calling and it is good for us as well to be clear about the calling that God has for us. We may not have all the details but it is good for us to ask the Lord and start preparing our heart and mind for whatever he has in his heart specifically for us for our life for our ministry you know for our future even for our career. So we ask the Lord what his calling is for us. Um so after these Pharisees question John the Baptist and he says to them no I am not Elijah. I am not the prophet. I am not the Messiah. So they say in that case who has given you the legal right to baptize people if you are not even the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet? So that would be verse 24. So he uh yeah if if you could someone could just read out for us that one single verse um chapter 1 verse uh okay 24 and 25. Yeah 24 and 25. >> Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him. Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the prophet? So yeah, just for us to understand a little bit about the background of baptism in those days. Uh baptism was mainly used for the Gentiles. Uh people who have decided that they want to follow Yahweh. They want to give up their idol worship and they want to become followers of only Yahweh. So such people would usually undergo a baptism ceremony you know where the rabbi or the teacher who has brought them to Yahweh he will do the baptism ceremony for them. So uh also there were some people uh among even the Jews who would undergo baptism water baptism just to show that now onwards I am a follower of this particular teacher. So that particular teacher you know if he has become a disciple of that particular teacher that teacher would baptize him uh uh as to show that you know he is now become what a disciple. So baptism was basically used for those kind of purposes back then. And so here these people are asking uh what about you? Why are you baptizing? And over here uh in the gospel of John the straightforward answer which John gives is not mentioned. But then we get that in Mark 1 verse4 where he explains clearly what kind of a bapti baptism he is performing. So if someone could turn to Mark 1:E4, uh let's look at the baptism that John the Baptist was offering. >> And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. >> So very specifically the kind of baptism which John the Baptist is offering is it's a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Because what did uh John the Baptist say? He says, "I have come to make the uh make the pathway straight for the Lord." Which means he has come over here to prepare people's hearts for the Messiah. Which means he is going to be convicting these people of their sins and telling them these are the wrong things which you have been doing. Kindly straighten up your hearts because the Messiah is coming and he is going to bring the kingdom to you. He is going to bring salvation to you. So because he's straightening the way for the Lord, therefore he is asking people to repent of their sinfulness. That's the specific kind of baptism which he is performing. So the Jewish people generally had the impression it is this Gentiles who have who are now turning to Yahweh. They are the ones who need to be baptized because up to now they were idol worshippers and so they need to be cleansed through water baptism. And so they generally thought we don't need any water baptism because we know we are already Jewish people we are descendants of Abraham. But here John is telling everyone even you people even you Jewish people you too if you have sinfulness in your life you too have to repent of your sinfulness. So the um so the baptism which John the Baptist was offering it was a baptism of repentance so that everyone will straighten their heart and they will get ready to come and receive the Messiah. So here in the gospel of John those exact words of Mark 1:4 are not recorded but he just says over here in verses 26 and 27 um yeah if you could maybe read out 26 to 28. Yeah, I baptized with water, John replied. But among you stand one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me. The straps of old whose sandals I I am not worthy to auntie. This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John was baptizing. So over here in these verses, John the Baptist says, you know, there's someone who is coming after me uh whose uh sandal straps also I am not unworthy uh I'm not worthy to untie is what he says over here. Um in Mark there's more clarity. Mark chapter 1 in a way he explains the baptism which I'm doing it's just a baptism of repentance. So I will help you to repent of your sins. I will help you to get your heart straight. But there's only one person who can change and transform your heart. So that will be the baptism of the Holy Spirit which the Messiah will do when he comes. So over there in Mark chapter one, he explains uh the I am giving a water baptism. But the one who will come after me, he will give a holy spirit baptism because he's the one who will help a person to be born of the Holy Spirit. A person can get water baptized and still have an unchanged you know spirit inside in the sense we all are born with a sinful spirit when we are born you know because we are all descendants of Adam. So in the same way Adam was uh had a fallen sinful spirit we also have fallen spiritually dead spirits uh when we are born. So a person can undergo water baptism and still have that spirit unchanged inside them if they have not made a personal commitment to the Lord Jesus. So therefore um here John the Baptist is clearly making the point I'm just offering a water baptism but the one who will come after me he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So the holy spirit is the one and we see the details of that in chapter 3 you know where it's explained to us it's the holy spirit who creates us into a new person. So only that new person will be able to enter into heaven. If a person simply under goes the ceremony of water baptism and there is no change on the inside where the holy spirit has not changed them they will not even be able to enter into heaven. So here John the Baptist is explaining I am just giving water baptism for the one who comes after me he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So here in the gospel of John he says I I'm not worthy to even untie the sandal straps. So what exactly did he mean over here? You know, um John the Baptist had a lot of followers, you know, people who were his disciples. In the same way these different teachers, these different rabbis, they all had um followers, students who were learning from them. So they would basically live along with the teacher in his home. It's not like now you know where people just come to a college, they all just meet up over there and then they go back to their own homes. That's not the that is not the system then. So at that time if you want to become a disciple or a student of a teacher you would literally be living with the teacher. So the teacher will expect you to do all kinds of you know services for him. Uh you know you're you're the one who will go and fetch the water. You're the one who will do the cleaning. You will help out uh with the cooking and different things. So the lowest job that could be given to a student to a disciple was that he would have to clean the sandals of his teacher. I mean that would be a sort of um a terrible thing because uh in those days they did not have you know tar roads. They didn't have paved you know concrete roads. Those were mud roads and plus there were no cars and scooters. So what is the main transportation? You would have donkeys and horses. And what do donkeys and horses do? They keep producing cowang, not cow dung, donkey dung, horse dunk, whatever. So you can imagine what the teacher's sandals will be like. He's going on those roads and those roads are not exactly clean. So now when he comes back the lowest uh you know uh student and the one who was probably the newest recruit he will probably have the duty of having to clean those sandals. Okay. So here John the Baptist is saying you know what you know this kind of a rabbi and student system but this person who's coming after me he's such a great rabbi he's such a great messiah that I am not worthy to even do the cleaning not worthy to even untie those sandals and clean them. That is how great he is. And why? That's because he's going to be baptizing people with the Holy Spirit. Not just simply a water baptism. So that is the point which John the Baptist is making over here. Um so um this is basically where your introduction uh to Jesus is kind of concluded. And now in the next few verses John the Baptist starts pointing people towards Jesus. You know wherever he sees Jesus he quickly points people towards him and says look look that's the man that I was talking about. So that is the man that you are now supposed to follow. So we see him doing that in the next few verses. Um so if maybe you could read out just the verse 29. >> The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said look the lamb of God who takes away the sin sin of the world. >> Now this is a very strange way to introduce this great messiah. He doesn't say look that is the messiah. Look that is the king of kings who will establish uh you know the kingdom of god and sit on the throne of David. He does not use all those terminologies though all of those things are true. He uses a very different way of introducing Jesus. He says look the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You know those of us who are sitting in our Christian churches we are so familiar with this terminology. We understand clearly what is being said over here. So we don't even think about it. But imagine when John the Baptist is standing over there, he's been talking, you know, he's been saying, "I'm preparing the way, making it straight for the Messiah." And finally when the Messiah comes, what is the introduction he gives? He says, "Look, that is the lamb of God." Now the Jewish people at least they would know what the lamb of God means. That is basically the lamb, the fattest lamb which you will feed nicely and reserve it and keep it aside from your flock to take it to the temple to kill it. So you'll have a lot of lambs and sheep, you know, if you're a shepherd and if you're not, you know, if you're a farmer, you'll have to buy sh the sheep from the people who own the flock. But whatever they all know what a lamb of God is. It's that basically that good lamb which does not have any defects on it which is healthy in every way. That is the lamb of God which you will be using to take to the temple to offer as a sacrifice for yourself for your family members. So that is a lamb of God. So everyone knows what a lamb of God is and they know what the future of the lamb of God will be. A lamb of God is not something which would live up to old age. lamb of God gets killed. Here John the Baptist is using that terminology to refer to the Messiah. A very very strange introduction and he's very clear. He doesn't even you know try to um kind of cover the details. Openly he says look the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So very clearly he's saying this Messiah you know what he's a lamb. You know what happens to the lambs of God, right? Maybe maybe they would live up to old age, but the lamb of God is reserved for sacrificial purposes. Uh did someone uh unmute and ask a question here? If so, you can go ahead. If not, uh yeah, because and whenever you have a question, please feel free to just unmute and just say, you know, excuse me, ma'am, whatever, you know, and then uh we can I I can help you with your question. So, okay. So here he's calling the Messiah the lamb of God and also declaring openly that this is a lamb who is going to take away the sin of the world. In the same way you know when they take their lambs to the Jerusalem temple and put it put the animal over there and kill it that animal is supposed to atone for their sins. They are very very familiar with that whole temple ritual and now the messiah is literally being called that. So that would have been actually a very very shocking statement to hear. So people probably would have wondered why is John the Baptist referring to the Messiah, the David, a king whom we have been waiting for? Why is he referring to him with this kind of wording? However, you know, if someone had asked John the Baptist, he probably would have explained um because you see this is what it says about this lamb of God in Isaiah 53 7-8. So this is not some new wording that he's using here in Isaiah. Isaiah had already prophesied and told that one day there will be a sacrificial lamb who will be offered for the people. So if we can maybe read out Isaiah 53 7 and 8. >> He was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slatter and as a sheep before it uh sheers he silent. So he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who is who who of his generation protested for he he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people he was punished. >> So when Isaiah prophesied about a messiah who will come he was very frank. I mean there's no hiding of details here. He very plainly said that when the Messiah comes, he will be led like a lamb to the slaughter. And it says that he will not open his mouth at that time. And he very plainly says Isaiah says he will be cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people. He was punished. So it's very very open wording over here. And now John the Baptist is basically repeating those words. is saying look this is that lamb of god which Isaiah talked about and he has come to take away the transgressions the sins of the people. So that is the introduction which John the Baptist gives about Jesus Christ. Um but you know when John the writer the apost the disciple John when he's writing this gospel of John you know whenever he thinks about the lamb he does not think about the lamb as something dead and helpless and something that you should feel sorry for. If you remember when when we did the introduction we talked about how whenever he talks about crucifixion he talks about glorification. He's not thinking about the lamb as oh so sad the poor lamb died what a pathetic condition what a poor you know what a terrible end no this lamb is getting glorified he's so aware of how what a high status this lamb has so you know um uh let's look at you know revelation 5:6 uh because you know John writes even revelation right the same John has written even the re book of revelation uh Look at the way he describes the lamb over here in Revelation 5:6. >> Then I saw a lamb looking as if it if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The lamp had seven arms and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. >> Yeah. So this lamb is not just some helpless you know uh animal that got slaughtered. Look at where this lamb is standing. Standing at the center of the throne. I mean if you were to look at the you know um the entire universe the the the most prominent place that you can be is at the very center of God's throne. The one who made this entire universe. And this lamb is standing there at the center of that throne. So um when you know John the Baptist saying look the lamb of God it's not something that we should think of it as a pitiful sentence. It this is some someone who's going to conquer sin who's con going to conquer death and who in fact will you know um uh rule over the entire uh you know universe in the future. So that's the kind of lamb of God that John the Baptist is actually introducing. Okay. So um we see that um so again he repeats that you know he talks about how this lamb is far superior to him to you know to him John the Baptist. So this is what John the Baptist says in your verse 30. If someone can read out verse 30. You have people who are in a coma. Chapter 1 verse 30. >> This is this is the one I meant when I saw a man who comes after me has suppressed me because he was before me. >> Exactly. >> Here he says this lamb, this man who comes after me, you know, he's going to come in ministry after me. But even though he's coming in into ministry after me, he was actually there in time before me. Okay. So he's basically talking about the the origin of this lamb of god. How this origin of the lamb of god is much before his time. Now let's look at this uh from a human point of view. Who was older? And when it comes to age, human age, John the Baptist was older or Jesus was older >> because >> Miky, are you asking a question? If not, you know, if you could just mute yourself, but if you are asking a question, go ahead. >> By mistake, Uh yeah. Um if you have a question, Mikail, yeah, you can go ahead and ask. Okay. Yeah. So um so when we look at the human years you know Elizabeth um was the one who got pregnant and she was already carrying John the Baptist and then afterwards Mary comes to her and Mary is you know now bearing the child of God in her womb. So when it comes to human age it's John the Baptist who is older. Um but here John the Baptist is saying this Jesus he was before me. So he's talking about the eternal nature of this Jesus. How Jesus was there from the beginning. Okay. So uh in that way Jesus is far older. In fact Jesus is infinite in his age. Um then we see another very strange statement. Let's read out these verses which John the Baptist is speaking over here. verses 31 to 34. >> I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might me might be revealed to Israel. Then John gave his this testimony, I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a do and remaining on him. And I myself did did not know him. But the one who sent me to to baptize with the water told me, "The man on whom you see the spirit come down and remains is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testify that this is God's chosen one." In this passage which we have just read out two times John the Baptist says I myself did not know him. In verse 31 again in verse 33 again he says I myself did not know him. John the Baptist and Jesus would have known each other right? I mean after all their mothers knew each other. Uh in fact Mary goes to Elizabeth rather than to anyone else when she know she when she has conceived her child because she she probably feels closer to Elizabeth. So obviously if Elizabeth and Mary knew each other so well. John the Baptist and Jesus also would have known each other. But two times here John the Baptist is saying I myself did not know him. So here John the Baptist is saying I did not know that this is the Messiah. Come childhood we knew each other but I never knew that this person is the Messiah whom the you know we have been waiting for since generations. And so uh I'm not sure why Mary and Elizabeth did not share this particular piece of news with John the Baptist that this itself is the son of God because when they were prophesying both of them Elizabeth and Mary in their prophecies openly say that this is the son of God. Okay. So uh Luke 135 um this is Mary speaking. What does she say in Luke 135? If you can read out >> the angel answer, the Holy Spirit it will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the holy one the holy one to be born will be called the son of god. So yeah so here when when you know the when the angel speaks to Mary he very plainly says this one who is going to be born through you will be called the son of god. So she would have discussed that with Elizabeth, you know. So she should have told this this child that I'm bearing is the son of God. And Elizabeth when she's prophesying from her own mouth, this is what she says in Luke 1:43. She says, "Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" You know, so both of them were very aware that this child that Mary is bearing is the son of God. But John the Baptist has not been given this information. He has grown up along with Jesus. They would have talked together, played together, they would have known each other. But he never knew that this is the Messiah. So he says the only way I got to know that this is the Messiah is when the spirit came down upon him. And we know right the spirit comes down upon Jesus in the form of a Dao. He says that is when I got to know uh that this is the Messiah. So he says um I myself in verse 33 John 1:33 he says I myself did not know him but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me you know that's basically God God told him the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is God's chosen one. So John the Baptist is declaring and saying I did see the spirit coming down. The spirit came and rested upon him as a dao. I have seen it and therefore I declare that this is God's chosen one. Um so just to kind of you know clear another doubt which comes up when we are talking about this in Matthew 3 13-15 look at what John the Baptist says to Jesus. Matthew 3:13-15 >> Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tired to detail him, saying, I need to be baptized by you and do you come to me? Jesus replied, let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented. >> So here John the Baptist says to Jesus, you know, I am the one who should be baptized by you and do you come to me? At this point, John the Baptist does not know that this is the Messiah because the Dao has not yet come come and rested upon his head. Right? So why is he saying I need to be baptized by you? Probably John the Baptist is basically saying this because you know they've known each other from childhood and he knows the way the the way Jesus has lived. He cannot point a single sin in him. He has he has watched him. He has seen his life and he knows how sinless he is. And maybe that's the reason John the Baptist says to Jesus, I am the one who should be baptized by you. So why are you coming to me? You know and then Jesus basically says it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. What righteousness is getting fulfilled over here? Basically Jesus has come to uh die for us and grant us his righteousness. So that's basically what Jesus is referring to over here you know because um he Jesus has come to be our human representative. He has come to the earth for that purpose. And so when he's stepping into the water into the waters to get baptized, he's not doing it for himself because there is no sin in him. He doesn't need a baptism of repentance because he has never sinned. He doesn't have any sins to repent from. Rather, he's getting into those waters to get baptized as our representative because later in Romans 6, we will be told that all of us who are baptized, we were baptized into Christ. We were baptized into his death. So he's getting into those waters to get baptized as our human representative so that one day in him through him we will die along with him we will be raised along with him. So he's doing it basically as our representative. So John the Baptist at that particular point of of time was not even aware of all these details. He only says to Jesus someone as holy as you you don't need to be baptized. In fact, I should be baptized by you. And Jesus says, "Let us do it to fulfill all righteousness." And so, it's only later when the Dao comes and settles upon his head and he recognizes that it's the Holy Spirit. Then he realizes that this is not just his friend, his childhood friend. This is in fact the Messiah himself. Okay? So that so that's the revelation that John the Baptist has. So um the next day and that will be in your verse 35. John and two of his disciples are standing by the roadside and again they see Jesus coming. And who are these two disciples of John the Baptist? One of them is Andrew because his name is clearly mentioned. The other one they they say is probably John. Okay, John the writer, the one who is writing this gospel. So John the Baptist is standing over there along with Andrew and um the writer John and Jesus comes along and now again you know John the Baptist points towards Jesus and says the same thing the same introduction which he had given earlier. Let's read out verses 35 to 37. The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by he said look the lamp of God. When the two disciples heard him say this followed, they followed Jesus turning around Jesus saw them. >> So the earlier day when he had made the same announcement, how many people went and followed Jesus? Does it say over there in the earlier verse doesn't say right whether anyone followed him or not. But then but the next day when he's standing with these two and he says look the lamb of God, these two don't even say bye-bye. They quickly quick go running behind Jesus. It shows the hunger level. See earlier when you know in the previous day when John the Baptist made the same introduction, nobody even cares. They're probably shocked by the kind of introduction that he's giving that is calling them him the lamb of God which is going to get sacrificed. So there's no response. But this next day when when these two disciples are standing with John the Baptist and he says to them, look, this is the one that I've been talking about. Immediately they start following Jesus. It shows how ready they are in their hearts. Their hearts have been made straight. They have repented of their sins. They are now ready to follow the Messiah. It shows their hunger level. And uh uh so at that time Jesus turns around and he questions them. That would be your verses 38 and 39. Yeah, if you can read out. Turning around Jesus saw them following and asked what do you want? They said Rabi which means teacher where are you staying? Come, he replied. And you will see. So they went and saw where he was staying and they spent that day with him. It was about 4 in the afternoon. >> So yes, like I said, the teachers in those days, they would not just go to a Bible college and teach over there. their students would literally come and live with the teacher. So the advantage of of that is that the teacher cannot bluff, he cannot fake. So because they're watching the teacher the entire day, you know, a teacher can come and sit in the in the Bible college and smile for 1 hour and go back and be a really badteered person for the rest of the day. But over there there was no bluffing. This is this was really amazing. This is the way I think maybe tutoring should be done. They they would get to see the teacher in all kinds of situations. When they're in the middle of tension, when the when the teacher is completely tired, when they when when you know when the teacher is being attacked and persecuted in all situations, the the student actually gets to see the teacher and that is how they learn from the teacher. This is the way you know the the the life the a godly life should be lived out. So it was amazing the way you know teaching was done in those days. So Jesus says to them, "Come, I have nothing to hide. Come, spend the day with me." So it says that they spend the entire day with him. And as they're sitting over there and talking to him and, you know, asking their doubts, they really realize this is really genuinely the Messiah that they that we have been waiting for. Their hearts are, you know, stirred by by by their encounter with Jesus. And so at the end of that one day, immediately Andrew comes back home. He goes to his brother who is Simon Peter and he says to him, he says, "We have found the Messiah." You know, so it shows how excited these people were to know the Messiah. The priests and those Pharisees and all those leaders in Jerusalem, they had been talking about Messiah from the time that they started their teaching work, but they have no interest in in knowing him. These guys on the other hand who are not in the full-time ministry who are not very qualified when it comes to knowing about you know scriptures and all of that they have a genuine hunger in their hearts. So that is something that we see even in our current day. There are people who come into ministry because you know their parents pushed them into ministry or you know they didn't get any job anywhere. So they thought okay fine at least I'll do ministry. They come for all the wrong reasons. But then there are people out there in the secular world, you know, believers in the secular world who may never even touch the, you know, formal full-time ministry, but they have a hunger inside them. They want to know the Lord. They want to serve him. They want to do something for his kingdom. And we see that kind of a hunger here in these people. They are just, you know, in the fishing business. They're not in ministry in any sense of the word, but they have such a hunger. So Andrew after spending the entire day with Jesus, he comes back excited and he says, "You know what? We have found the Messiah." In other words, they have been looking for him. They have been searching because John the Baptist has been telling them all these fancy things about the Messiah and they've been excited. They wanted to know him more. And so now they they're so happy that they have discovered Jesus. And so Simon is also excited. They both go to meet with Jesus. And Jesus takes one look at him and says these words verses 42 um okay maybe we can read all the way from 40 42 44 if you can read out Simon Peter brother was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him we have found the Messiah that is the Christ and he brought him to Jesus. He loo Jesus looked at him and said you are Simon Simon son of John. You will be called Sephas which when translated is Peter. The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. finding Philillip he said to him follow me. Philillip like uh Andrew and Peter was from the town of Betham. >> Yeah. So when uh this man Simon Peter comes to Jesus to become his follower, Jesus prophesies and tells him what his future will be like. Okay. So he says, "You will be called Kus." That's basically an Aramaic word for a big rock. Okay. So, um therefore it's like you know um Jesus doesn't just say okay I know Simon Peter I can see what you are. You're a very you have a very impulsive nature. Whatever comes into your m you know into your head. You'll open your mouth and those words will pop out. You don't even think beforehand what you're going to say. You're the one who can jump into the water before thinking what you're going to be doing. Jesus doesn't point out all of his defects. Those defects are there. It's true. Simon Peter has not yet become the great leader that he's going to be one day. He's at the moment just Simon Peter. But Jesus when he looks at him, the first thing which Jesus sees is his future. And he says, you know what? This is basically what you are headed for. This is your destination. Today you may be like this. You know, you you think one thing one day and then you change your mind the next day. You're that kind of an impulsive person now. But I look at you and I declare to you who you are going to be. You are going to be kus, a solid big rock. You know um this um there's a lot said about um you know that reference later where know where you know where Jesus says on this uh rock I will build my church and all of that. Let's not even go over there because that's a completely different passage. But the point I'm trying to make is this word kus it's referring to those huge stones which you see you know um balancing one on top of another when you're going by train have you noticed that when you when you when you go through this mountainous regions uh they are not connected to the to the mountain itself they're already loose I mean they're already they're already loose rocks but they are huge in size and they they kind of balance upon one another and when you look at them, you wonder, you know, if someone push it pushes it hard enough, will it come rolling down? So, these are loose rocks. They are not the mountain itself, but they're large in size and they're huge and heavy and they're very, very stable. Nothing shakes them. If you were to go and poke it also, doesn't fall off because it's huge and stable. Jesus is saying, you know what? You're going to be like that. Today, you're wishy-washy. You know here your mood is here one moment and your mood is over there one moment but you're going to be one stable solid person that people can depend upon. You're going to be that kind of a person. So that's the way Jesus come looks at each of us when we go to him to be his disciples. He can recognize the defects that we have. He's not pretending that we have we are already perfect but he knows what he's going to do with us. So if you and I are like this Simon Peter faithful disciples who will hold on to him who will not walk away who will not get distracted by the world and go back into the world. If we have people who will be who will continue to hold on to Jesus the way Simon Peter held on, we will be turned into people who are completely different from what we are today. At the moment, you may be looking at yourself and thinking, "Oh, I'm so weak. Oh, I'm I don't have that uh that uh you know um that discipline which is needed to be really godly." You may be all of those things. Those things may be very very true about you. But Jesus looks at you the you know your savior looks at you and he says come be my disciple and this is what I'm going to make you and his image of what he has in his mind about you is so different from what you are today because he he knows how he can change you how he can transform you all you need to do from your side is be like this Simon Peter and don't let go Simon Peter did not let go of Jesus even when all the others ran away he was of course very very scared and he even denied Jesus but he still followed. The others went back to their houses. Simon Peter did not go back to his house. Even then he followed. So if you and I can be disciples who will continue to hold on to Jesus even when we fail. Even when we are so ashamed of ourselves and thinking oh my what a mess I am. If you hold on to this Jesus he will make you into what he has planned for you. We talked about that right last time. Psalm 139, all the days ordained for your life are already written in his book. So the plan which he has made for your life, he will fulfill it if you can be like Simon Peter and just hold on to him and continue being his disciple. So that's the encouragement that we receive that Jesus, you know, does not look at Simon and point out his defects. rather he points to his future and says this is who you're going to become. Okay. So um then then he meets with Philillip. Philillip also chooses to follow him. And then we come to the Nathaniel passage. Nathaniel is not as open as Andrew and Simon Peter and Philillip. Nathaniel has slightly different ideas about what the Messiah should be like. So uh let's read out verse 45. Yeah. Philip found Philip found Nathaniel and told him we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophet also wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of this Joseph. >> Yeah. So Philillip u so Philip you know he goes to Nathaniel and you know he wants to tell him I've now become a follower. Jesus came to me and asked and I said yes and now I have become a follower. So he says we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and about whom the prophets also wrote. You know who it is? It is Jesus of Nazareth. And when Nathaniel hears the word Nazareth, he's like uh Nazareth. Now what's what's wrong with Nazareth? Nothing wrong with Nazareth. It's just that it's this place in Galilee which is uh which has got a very mixed population. So in your entire region of Galilee there's this place called um okay in the Galilean region you basically have these uh trade routes meeting. Okay you know the Romans are the ones who kind of first came up with the idea of paved roads. They began to put stones and create some kind of roadway. Otherwise earlier you just had you just had mud roads. So they created this these roads so that they you know their uh so that these traders can go on those and even their military armies also can go on those roads. So at certain points many of these roads will meet you know they'll cross each other crossroads. Galilee is one place like that. In this Galileon region you have important Roman highways crisscrossing. So which means you'll have people from different parts of the world coming over there. So people have settled down over there. They're like a Bangalore Bangalore metro. You know you come you look at Bangalore you'll have people from every region over here in Bangalore. Why? Because this is like one of those highways. No there one of those crossroad points where people from different regions are coming and settling down over there. Because trade is happening over there. Business is taking place. Money can be made. You know you can diversify and have different kinds of careers. because that's the reason people are coming and settling down in this Galileian region. So, especially in upper Galilee, you have a whole bunch of non-Jewish people, Phoenicians and Syrians and Sidonians and all those people living over there in your upper Galilee. In your lower Galilee is basically where you have more uh Jewish population and that's basically where Nazareth is located. So Jesus is in this very cosmopolitan region where you have people from different cultures you know mingling together. Jesus basically you know uh settles down in that place in Nazareth. So people who consider themselves very very spiritual have a low opinion about Galilee. You know that's the place where you come in touch with all the pagans. So who knows what kind of ideas people these Jewish people have in their heads after listening to all their pagan neighbors and plus Galilee is not a very spiritually hi-fi place. So over there Levites will not go over there and know preach the word. So the from the local population itself some people learn the scriptures and start teaching it to others. So these rabbis many of the rabbis over here in Galilee they are not Levite background. They don't have that uh anointed holy Levite lineage. They're just ordinary people who loved God, who loved Yahweh, went to Jerusalem, studied the scriptures, came back and now they're teaching the you know in the different synagogues. So the rabbis over here are not exactly great people. They are all uh people from other tribes. They are not Levite. They don't have aic background. So Nathaniel is like thinking uh someone from Nazareth is the Messiah. What religious background will he have? How much knowledge will he have of the scriptures? So that is why Nathaniel knows in a very negative manner and he says Nazareth can anything good come from there? And Nathaniel just simply says uh she Philip Philip says come and see. And uh this is something which you know stood out to me when when pastor was doing this you know series last year. He said don't have long discussions with these people who want to argue about Jesus. Tell them come and see. You experience this Jesus for yourself. Pray to him. Read a few you know one or two chapters and then you pray to this Jesus and you see what happens. So some people get into long debates trying to convince these people that you know oh this uh Jesus is true. He's he's you know he's the one who is the savior and they may be more um intellectual than you. Their arguments may be more hi-fi than yours even though you have the truth but they have a greater ability to argue and debate. So you know they may you may not be able to win the argument. The simpler method is just to tell them why don't you pray to this Jesus for a few weeks. Read you know one or two chapters every day and find out for yourself what happens. You know that person may actually end up having an encounter with the living God through experience. So Philip does not argue with this Nathaniel. I guess Nathaniel is one of those intellectual types who knows all the Old Testament scriptures really well and has all the you know phariseical arguments in place and all of that. So, Philip doesn't argue with him. He just says come and see for yourself. And that is how Nathaniel you know becomes a disciple because once he comes and sees he is completely convinced that Jesus is the Messiah. We will go into you know deep greater detail in the next few verses. We will do that in the next class. So for now, let's just close with a word of prayer. Thank you Lord for the truths that we could learn today from your scripture. Lord, we thank you that you chose to be the lamb of God, the sacrificial lamb. You chose, oh Lord, to go down to the lowest positions even though you're from the highest position because of your love for us. We are very grateful for this, oh Lord. So even as we go through this gospel of John, help us to start becoming true disciples. So that one day like this Peter who was nobody, we will also become somebody's someone um that you have a future for that you have a plan for whose days have been ordained in your book already. Enable us oh Lord to follow you in such a way that that becomes our destiny where we become what we are meant to be in you. Thank you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much online people and thank you students here for paying attention. >> Yes. >> Thank you man.